


A Day in the Life One-Shot - Dark Rye with Seeds (Jack POV)

by Feral_Female



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Ianto Being Ianto, Jack Buys Groceries, M/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:42:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feral_Female/pseuds/Feral_Female
Summary: Sometimes it’s the day to day of living that gives us the best insight into a person, couple, or a relationship. With that in mind – and because my mind keeps tossing me little nuggets of story – I thought it would be fun to sprinkle little one-shots among the bigger, heavier storylines. To that end, we’ll have these “Day in the Life” tales. They’ll be short little vignettes- some will be funny, some emotional, some erotic. But all will be either Jack or Ianto showing us the daily little mundane things in their lives, the things that they fight to preserve for us and for them.To quote Rhys Williams- “You do it so people can live their lives. And there’s nothing more important than that.”





	

**A Day in the Life**

**Dark Rye with Seeds (Jack)**

(Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.)

 

“Okay, so here I am, in front of the bakery, looking for dark rye with seeds but not seeing any.”

I heard Ianto’s huff in my ear. It was a tiny exhalation, but one that I was intimately familiar with. That short out-breath made me smirk.

“Jack, are you _sure_ you’re in front of the bakery?”

I glanced up keeping my cell to my ear. “There’s a big sign that says ‘BAKERY’ hanging right over my head.” I lowered my eyes to the racks of baked goods. “Also, there are shelves full of bread, buns, muffins, and oh my goodness, sweet buns.” I grabbed the plastic tongs, opened the glass door, and picked out the biggest sweet bun on the tray. “I am now holding a sweet bun the size of a Frisbee.”

“Okay, well then, you’re in front of the bakery.” I nodded at a young mother walking past with a baby in a pram. She gave me a ‘meet-me-in-the-vegetable-aisle' smile. “Drop the sweet bun into a box and grab some doughnuts as well. Enid, what is it?”

“Tell Jack to get me a blackberry and custard doughnut,” I heard the old woman say. “I don’t hear you telling him. Are you sure this is the right day? I think I’m not supposed to be here until tomorrow.”

“Dear Lord,” Ianto mumbled as I struggled to get a box open with one hand. A fat man in a brown jacket shuffled past, his eyes darting to me then to my sweet bun. “The next time she needs her callouses trimmed at the doctor we are _not_ playing rock-paper-scissors for the luxury of accompanying her. We’ll just flip a coin.”

“It’s not my fault you stink at rock- paper-scissors.” The empty box – still flat because who can unfold a box with one hand? – fell on the floor. “Shit.” The fat man in the brown jacket cruised past again. I gave him the evil eye. “I think there’s some man scoping out my sweet bun.”

“I don’t blame him. You have incredible buns.” Ianto’s voice dropped a bit. I liked it when his voice did that. “Have you gotten the doughnuts yet? And the rye bread?”

“I hate rye bread,” Enid interjected.

I could see Ianto in my mind’s eye grimacing at Enid’s volume. The old gal was grating at times but Ianto diligently visited her twice a week, sometimes more if she had an appointment with the doctor. And being in her eighties she had a _lot_ of doctor appointments. He rarely complained though. Perhaps she reminded him of his late grandmother or he felt the responsibility to tend to her as I did. She _had_ lost her home on the Bog due to our investigation into the leapers.  

“No to both because I’d have to put my sweet bun back and Bobby Brown Jacket is lusting over it,” I replied while trying to shake open a waxy bag since the box didn’t work.

“Jack, if you’re there under the sign, just lean to the left and see if Myrna is back by the ovens. Enid, no, you cannot leave now. Just read a magazine.”

“I’m blind, you knob!" Enid spat.

“Oh, right. Let’s find your earbuds and you can listen to Chubby Checker on your phone.” Frustration was starting to leak into his voice.

The bag popped open. “Ha!” I shouted right in Bobby Brown Jacket’s jowly face as my sweet bun fell into my bag.

“Jack, are you taunting fellow shoppers?” Ianto enquired.

“Only one. Okay, so Myra?”

“Myrna. Yes, she’s the head baker. Just peek around and look for a woman who resembles Hyacinth Bucket.”

“Who?” I leaned over my cart, bag still in hand, and saw two women in the back icing cupcakes.

“Patricia Routledge? ‘Keeping up Appearances’? Come on, Jack, surely you know who she is. Enid, _please_ sit back down. When it’s your turn they’ll call. God save me.”

“Well, there’s two women looking at me and both are smiling.” I returned the grin.

“Of course they are,” Ianto muttered, sounding as if he were at the end of his tether. “Does one of them look like Hyacinth Bucket?”

“Ianto, I have no idea who Hyacinth Bucket is. Hello ladies!” I called. They both hustled over, lashes batting and hairnets tight to their foreheads. One was short and round, the other taller and kind of dour. “I’m looking for a loaf of dark rye with seeds?”

“We do that special for Mr. Jones,” the taller woman replied, folding her arms over her large breasts.

“Yes! That’s right. I’m here to pick up Mr. Jones’ dark rye with seeds.”

The taller one gave me an arched brow. “Prove it.”

“Really? I need to provide ID to pick up a loaf of bread?”

“Jack, did you find Myrna?” Ianto asked over the sound of Enid singing “Let’s Twist Again” at the top of her lungs.

“I’m trying to get your damn bread but it seems my clearance level isn’t high enough.”

“Let me speak with her.”

I held out my cell. The taller woman – who looked more like Winston Churchill every second – took it and began chattering away. While Ianto talked up the head baker, I filled the bag with whatever doughnuts I saw. Shopping was not my forte. Sometimes I wondered how my life had come to the point where I was making stops at the market before going home to spend the night with Ianto curled into my side and reading Tennyson or, better still, making love to him while Matt Alber albums played in the background. The shift had been subtle but here I was, being scrutinized by a woman in a hairnet and ugly blue smock with flour speckles. Me. The head of Torchwood. It made me chuckle. And on some basic level, it made me feel just a little bit settled. I waited for the panic that realization should bring to arrive but it seemed stalled. Probably Myrna wouldn’t let it pass without proper ID.

“I should have known you were Mr. Jones’ boyfriend. He talks you up all the time. ‘Handsome as a movie star’ he tells us, don’t he Astrid?” Myrna gushed while returning my phone. Astrid’s netted head bobbed up and down. Within seconds I had a loaf of dark rye in my cart.

“Okay, I have the bread,” I told Ianto and patted my coat pockets for the list he had given me before he had left the Hub to pick up Enid. “Um, what was on the list? I can’t seem to find it. Nope, wait, here it is!” I whipped the slip of paper out of a pocket, unfolded it, and scanned it closely. “It says beans. What kind of beans? Lima beans? Green beans? Human beans?”

Myrna and Astrid giggled like schoolgirls at my witty. I gave them a wink.

“Coffee beans,” Ianto sighed wearily. “You realize it has just taken ten minutes for you to find one item on that list of fourteen? If you continue to move at that speed it will take you over two hours to grab what we need.”

“Huh, no kidding? I blame it on the ladies. They’re very distracting.” I flashed the bakers a smile that netted me a loaf of Italian bread and a box of fresh sugar cookies that they knocked down to half price.

“Jack, please stop flirting with the bakery staff and go find the coffee beans.”

“Are they in the same aisle as the green beans? Ianto? Did we lose service? Ianto?” I pulled the phone from my ear to check my bars. All four were full. I put the phone back to my ear. “Ianto?”

“You know what? Why don’t I just stop at the store after I drop off Enid?”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, yes, I’m quite sure. Enid, where are you going? Damn it. I should go haul her back in before she clears the foyer. I’ll be home sometime.”

“Okay, see you then.” I slid the phone into the inner pocket of my coat and turned to look at the smitten bakers. “You wouldn’t happen to have any of that icing and a decorating bag for sale, would you?”

“You going to decorate something at home?” Astrid asked as Myrna went off to find a bag and fill it with buttercream icing.

“That I am, Astrid.”

 

 

**The End**

 

 

 

 

 


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